The Tasered Dog Story

[Missy Limkemann]

One of my dear friends, is an animal warden for another city east of Cleveland. She is appauled by this. She now feels that our warden is making other wardens look bad. She herself said, “that dog posed no threat, back up would not have been needed. There are ways to get a dog. A few treats work wonders, and I use my car. I open the door and ask them if they want to go for a ride, and all jump in.” (she has a police cruiser turned to an animal control car with the bars up between back and front seat) She lives in a city with pits and she has come across many of them, and many aggressive animals (non pits as well) and she has never had to use force on any dog. Neither have any of the police. They call her for help. Heck, she is being called from other cities to come help them. She is involved right now in a 4 city pit incident, she knows her stuff. I think our warden knows nothing. I have always thought that. I have always said that while he is nice to me and I have never had a bad experience with him in my job capacity, I just don’t think he knows enough. His blatant disregard for Otis (and many other animals) is a violation of one city code.

505.09 Cruelty to Animals
(3) Carry or convey an animal in a cruel or inhuman manner;

He is not above the law as far as I am concerned. And I think actions should be taken. We uphold our police to protect us and follow the laws, we should uphold our wardens to the same.

I myself have come across many frightened, scared, abused etc dogs. I can say without a doubt, this dog was scared, not attacking, not showing any signs of real threat. I have a boxer, come have 5 strange men surround him and see how he acts. And he is only 6 months old. Heck, come corner me and see how I act. LOL.

[Missy Limkemann]

please excuse my spelling errors in my last post...I am only on 1 cup of coffee right now and the brain is not fully working.

[Valerie Molinski]

I just heard about this story yesterday and it happened this weekend?

I am so completely disgusted right now. And I am ashamed of my city as well- if those are the kind of tactics/employees that they choose to rely on.

That could be my dog sitting in the pokey right now, scared out of her mind, still smarting from 50,000 volts coursing through her body, twice. That could be your dog.

[Jim O'Bryan]

I myself have come across many frightened, scared, abused etc dogs. I can say without a doubt, this dog was scared, not attacking, not showing any signs of real threat. I have a boxer, come have 5 strange men surround him and see how he acts. And he is only 6 months old. Heck, come corner me and see how I act. LOL.

Missy

I agree with your post, and the video from the taser is troubling, though even more troubling
is the running text, and the video lens being covered up.

However you and I and Brad, and Ed might have a different take on all of this.

Example: While mounting a large post for a client I cut a good deal of my thumb off. While
I calmly found the missing piece, walked over to the sink, and tried to tape it on. My client
started to hyperventilate and pass out. As I explained to him calmly he was not really helping
me, himself or the situation he passed out again with blood squirting out of my thumb.
When I finally had it taped on as well as possible, and calmly drove myself to the hopsital
he recovered in my office.

So because of our various backgrounds we all handle things differently.

Dennis

Handed out over 3,000 myself personally along with the publisher, the editor, the ad
person etc.

Seems like you have really been holding back on your blind hatred for the Congressman
from the 10th District. Haven't really seen anything like this cince the scene in magic
between Burgess Meredith and Anthony Hopkins.

.

[Brad Hutchison]

I see this incident as indicative of a broader issue: that the city is complicit with fostering a fear of dogs in Lakewood.

Wednesday night there was a meeting of the Public Safety Committee to discuss the proposal to allow leashed dogs in Lakewood parks. At this and a previous public meeting, I was shocked to hear people speak out against lifting the ban on the basis of public safety. People worried about leashed dogs attacking each other, attacking other people, attacking bunnies... and I'm thinking to myself, "What? How often does that really happen? All we're talking about is people walking dogs... it happens millions of times a day all over the world. It happens right now on Lakewood sidewalks. Where are these people getting this stuff?"

But then I think about the city's actions... banning dogs in parks, banning mythical "dangerous breeds," tasering dogs in the street, and it's no wonder there are citizens (and police officers, and animal control workers) who are irrationally afraid of dogs. The city models a fear of dogs, which only serves to increase unfortunate incidents.

[Gary Rice]

Ordinarily, I like to jump into a thread at some point with the banjo and ask for a sing-a-long.

Not this time.

I simply hope that all involved will learn from this experience.

I'm sure the dog did anyway.

It's easy to judge what you and I might do if we encountered this difficult situation, but instead of placing blame, I would simply hope that law enforcement policies and procedures would continually be under review for best outcomes in dealing with all potential human and animal contact scenarios- that those who protect us would in fact hopefully use events like this to brainstorm better ideas and training needs in the future.

Unfortunately, I do not believe that this is the kind of news that puts Lakewood into it's best light, to say the least.

It also makes me wonder whether, if Lakewood had not put that "pit bull" law on the books, whether this would have even happened? I mean, think about it. Would a Collie or a Lab wagging their tail have been treated this way? How 'bout a St. Bernard? A Chihuahua?

I guess we'll never know, will we?

Back to the banjo...but I think it may need some new strings first...

[Dennis J Kampe]

JOB

Rather than contaminate the Lakewood general discussion post series with my/your posts about your best best buddy - will set up and reply Under Global Discussion - denny do nothing since denny "actions" are apparently more global or universal than just confined to Lakewood general scene .

[Bill Call]

Really? You condone the actions taken with this situation? How disappointing.

Every sensible person in Lakewood condones and applauds the conduct of the police officer.

The officer responded to a complaint about a stray dog. The officer was threatened by the dog. The officer tasered the dog. The moron dog owner simply says "shit happens man". I can imagine him giving the same answer if a small child was killed by the dog. The owner and his dog should find a new city to live in.

Every school or city can suffer a certain number of morons without ill affect. Morons will be with us always. When moronic behavior becomes the norm you have reached the point of no return.

After hearing "Shit happens man", the officer should have tasered the owner.

[Gary Rice]

I would simply like to point out something here, regarding the use of potentially pejorative words describing people or animals, as a group.

As a Special Education teacher, I want to point out that the word "moron", along with words like "idiot" and "imbecile", were once used to apply to specific sub-groupings of individuals having particular challenges in life.

These words, along with many others like them, have fallen from favor in the educational/psychological community and frankly, (I believe) need to be removed from present-day conversation, due to their potentially pejorative connotations.

That many people may use these terms in casual conversation, perhaps without overly ill intent, does not negate the fact that they have a past history of controversy.

How this relates to this thread, I would think, is real simple.

In my opinion, the same sort of thinking that brought us racial superiority theories also pervades assumptions that one breed of animal is kinder, gentler, or superior to another...or more specifically, that a "pit bull" dog is inherently more vicious than any other. All animals (and people too, for that matter) are capable of virtually any kind of behavior, given the right circumstances.

Laws that discriminate against an entire class of people, or animals, are unjust and wrong-headed in my opinion, and I believe that they can lay the groundwork for incidents like this one to transpire. The police were simply doing their job here. That's not the point. The larger issue would be whether the pit bull law created an assumption that there might be a vicious dog here, and therefore, this animal could therefore be treated differently than Mollie the Collie would have been?

As there are many gentle so-called pit bulls, so are there a great many successful and productive people who might formerly have been referred to as "morons".

Whether with pejorative language or profiling laws, these types of things need to be addressed whenever they arise, and hopefully used as teachable moments for the development of a more humane society.

[Bill Call]

That many people may use these terms in casual conversation, perhaps without overly ill intent, does not negate the fact that they have a past history of controversy.

My intent was overly ill.

Moronic behavior doth never prosper, for if it prosper non dare call it moronic behavior.

[Brad Hutchison]

The officer responded to a complaint about a stray dog. The officer was threatened by the dog. The officer tasered the dog. The moron dog owner simply says "shit happens man". I can imagine him giving the same answer if a small child was killed by the dog. The owner and his dog should find a new city to live in.

Bill, thank you for illustrating perfectly my point about some citizens having an irrational fear of dogs. Canines have been domesticated for thousands of years, selectively bred to coexist with humans. They are not, on the whole, prone to attacking small children, or anyone else for that matter.

This dog didn't get tasered because it was dangerous. It got tasered because the city told the officer that it was dangerous; or, rather, this dog kind of resembled the kind of dog the city told the officer was dangerous.

This story isn't about the owner, nor is it about the dog being off-leash. The owner should be cited for breaking the law. This story is about the officers overreacting out of fear caused by lack of training and uninformed legislation.

[Missy Limkemann]

Brad...you are my new hero!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for saying exactly what I have been trying to say!!! You just said it so much better!!!!!

[Ed Dickson]

Can't really say it any better than Brad just did.

Bill, I am a sensible person and I DON'T condone what was done. If you want to start with flinging around name calling, please feel free but I won't engage.

As I have said numerous times before, it's obvious the police need some training in how to avoid having to take this type of action when it isn't/wasn't necessary. I am gathering the necessary info and would hope the city will use it so this type of thing can be avoided in the future. As for the actions of animal control that morning.......well, he should have know better and it's indefensible.

[Bill Call]

This story isn't about the owner, nor is it about the dog being off-leash. The owner should be cited for breaking the law. This story is about the officers overreacting out of fear caused by lack of training and uninformed legislation.

The officer did not overreact. He acted in a sensible and rational manner and he deserves the full support of the community. The only person needing an education in this manner is the owner of the dog.

The officer could simply have let the dog runaway to some other street. Then what? What if the dog attacked a small child? I can hear it know" "Shit happens", man.

Pet Kills Child:

http://www.examiner.com/x-801-Pet-Care- ... hild-in-AZ

Pit Bull Mauls Michigan Boy:

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/200 ... chiga.html

There are hundreds of other examples. The first responsibility of the officer in this case was the safety of the PEOPLE of the community. He deserves the full support of the community.

[Ed Dickson]

So, Bill, what you are saying is that if education exists to avoid the need to tazer this dog in the future, we shouldn't take the opportunity to have that education happen? We should continue "status quo" even though we could better ourselves from something like this?
It's really a pointless argument with you as I know how much fear clouds judgement and ability to be rational.

I will also challenge you, Bill, to show me the statitics that state "hundreds" of cases exist as you say. That is just factually incorrect.

Finally, the dog in question was not showing aggressive signals in any way. It has no history of bites or even scratches. I wouldn't expect the officers to know that (I am a sensible person, after all) but I think just a small amount of basic knowledge and you and I wouldn;t even be having this discussion. Again, I am gathering the educational programs, some of which are free, that exist that will help curb this from happening in the future. I will present them to the proper people and hope the city will take this seriously. I will not blindly support abuse int he community in which I live. I won't overly criticize either but will choose to be proactive and hope to make the situation better.